Premier Li welcomes Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida

Premier Li Keqiang met with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida in Beijing on April 30. The two shared a deep conversation with hopes of re-establishing strong relations between the two countries.

“Developing a long-term healthy and stable relationship between China and Japan is in the interests of both countries. It is conducive not only to the region, but also to the world’s stability and prosperity,” Premier Li said.

China-Japan relations are improving despite some twists and turns in recent years, but the foundation is still very fragile, the Premier said.

The two sides must have a sense of responsibility to ensure bilateral relations are developing in the right direction, Premier Li said.

“China is willing to work together with Japan to enhance mutual political trust and promote the relationship between the two countries. China hopes the relationship returns to a normal development track while upholding the spirit of learning from the past to face the future,” Premier Li added.

He stressed that no ambiguity or vacillation is allowed when it comes to the matters of principle concerning the political foundation for the normalization of China-Japan relations.

The Japanese side should stick to the path of peaceful development, and match deeds with its words that China’s peaceful development is an opportunity, Premier Li said.

“I hope Japan can carry out a positive policy towards China and firmly uphold the principles of four political documents signed between the two states.”

China hopes that Japan can properly address sensitive factors that will have fundamental influences on the relations between the two countries. With that, both sides can create a favorable atmosphere for the gradual recovery of the bilateral dialogue and cooperation mechanism and the meeting between leaders of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea, Premier Li said.

The Premier urged Japan to make more efforts to improve the national feelings and enhance the mutual understanding of people of the two countries.

China and Japan complement each other in the economy and have a deep foundation for cooperation. China is willing to expand pragmatic cooperation in every field with Japan to achieve mutual reciprocity and mutual benefit for the people of both countries, the Premier pointed out.

Japan is willing to uphold the spirit of the four political documents signed between the two states and adhere to the consensus that China and Japan are partners, and do not impose a threat to each other, the Japanese foreign minister said.

“Japan is willing to build up mutual respect, enhance mutual trust, and address differences with China in order to carry forward China-Japan relations.”

“Japan thinks highly of the measures that China has taken to promote its reform on economic structure. Japan is willing to work with China in all sectors to make more contributions to the relations between the two countries,” he said.